New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

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For 6,297 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lowest review score: 0 Maroon
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,464 out of 6297
  2. Mixed: 1,680 out of 6297
  3. Negative: 153 out of 6297
6297 music reviews
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    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Double Infinity
    ‘Double Infinity’ is a surprisingly classy blend of two disparate genres, one that pushes the boundaries of what Big Thief sounds like – all while preserving the introspective soul that shot them to fame in the first place.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Man's Best Friend
    She’s made an album that sounds consistently inviting and sometimes exciting.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Essex Honey
    It’s this delicate placing of guest vocals, personal anecdotes and on-the-street soundbites that make ‘Essex Honey’ the most organised sketchbook, one which perfectly encapsulates this particular moment in time.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    EURO-COUNTRY
    ‘Euro-Country’ has the courage and the consistency to land high on the fast-approaching end-of-year lists, and to make CMAT the icon she’s been giving all this time.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
    Each song sees Williams fearlessly stepping between familiar and fresh influences. It seems less about playing with expectations and more about what feels the most visceral. [Review is based on the 17-track release]
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Escape Room
    In the end, Taylor stands strong, heart laid bare in a tender, nuanced close to an imperfect but heartfelt album that proves that you can find your way back to yourself.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    hickey
    There is no mistaking that ‘Hickey’ is Royel Otis at their most self-assured. .... We can’t help but question if slightly more hunger to push the boundaries would add a greater sense of depth to an otherwise satisfying album.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Matter Of Time
    ‘A Matter Of Time’ is just as gorgeous as its predecessors, but this time, there’s more darkness shadowing the gleam.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    private music
    Deftones’ 10th album is a gift for fans old, new, and certainly finding them in the very distant future. Their peers can’t touch them.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Clearing
    Wolf Alice are the kind of band that keep on getting better with every record, and here, they raise the bar on themselves once again.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's A Beautiful Place
    Refusing to conform to trends, Water From Your Eyes continue to push themselves to new experimental heights.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Passionate Ones
    With ‘The Passionate Ones’, he has honed his intuitive songwriting and production for an experience that is warped, welcoming and deservedly self-assured.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    AIN'T NO DAMN WAY!
    There’s some fatigue while listening to the slower tracks like ‘Shine Your Light For We’ – turning his laidback style into something mind-numbing, but these moments are pretty rare. .... Without special guests this time around, he doubles down on what he does best: directing the dancefloor with precision, patience and pure instinct.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Baby
    Though there’s always a lot happening on the surface, at the core of ‘Baby’ are songs so finely hewn that they’re never overshadowed.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Carving The Stone
    His clear-eyed spoken-word and stylish beatmaking, both sharpened since his 2021 eponymous debut, combine for a brutal, complex study of his city. The key to the album’s brilliance is Balfe’s darting between small, succinct portraits, from barflies to beatings.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You
    It’s the softest of her records, yet perhaps the most emotionally violent. .... If this truly is the end of her story, it’s hard to imagine a more heartfelt way to lay Ethel Cain to rest.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Star
    ‘Black Star’ isn’t the diasporic spectacle she originally hinted at – it’s a hedonistic pop recalibrator that hits no matter where you’re from.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    METAL FORTH
    The choice to join forces with so many artists was always a huge risk, and unfortunately, it sometimes ends up dampening the charm that first set them apart from the masses. But in the moments where it does come together, it’s both epic and intriguing as hell.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The New Eve Is Rising
    At times, they get a bit bogged down in their own experiments – the eight-minute-31-second ‘Volcano’ perhaps overstays its welcome – but, mostly, ‘The New Eve Is Rising’ presents a singular band doing things just right, and completely in their own world.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If Not Winter
    Though the emotional details can get swept up in the wall of sound, ‘If Not Winter’ is still a triumphant debut – and more than anything, the sound of a young artist who’s still growing into herself.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Now Would Be A Good Time
    By blending melody, harmony and palpable atmosphere, Folk Bitch Trio have created a masterful debut that lingers long after the final notes ring out.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    DON'T TAP THE GLASS
    Clocking in at a chiselled 28 minutes, ‘Don’t Tap The Glass’ is primarily anchored by disco-flavoured raps and Kangol-clad ’80s hip-hop. ‘Stop Playing With Me’ digs up, dusts off and digitises some Whodini and Run DMC-style drums to great effect
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    black british music (2025) [Mixtape]
    A potential future classic.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Headlights
    A rich reward for the Alex Giannascoli faithful: his 10th album is no less bizarre than what’s come before, nor the melodies less beautiful.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    No Sign Of Weakness
    ‘No Signs Of Weakness’ plays more like a curated playlist of experiments rather than a fully realised body of work: it lacks direction, the momentum sputters, and even some of the more ambitious tracks could’ve used another round of sculpting.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    SWAG
    As a whole, though, ‘Swag’ often feels poorly edited, its 21 tracks accumulating into a directionless slog. The production may have its moments, but the lyrics rarely deliver the depth to match.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Let God Sort Em Out
    ‘Let the Lord Sort ’Em Out’ isn’t a total misfire: it’s composed, thoughtful and often impressively lyrically detailed. But after 16 years, Clipse didn’t come back knocking down doors and shocking the world.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My First Album
    ‘My First Album’ is an impassioned and idiosyncratic patchwork, one which paints a portrait of anxious and wistful personhood that is, on the contrary, definitive and assured.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    moisturizer
    On their second effort, they’ve evolved into a smarter, sexier and altogether stronger creature.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    . [PERIOD]
    There are moments of pure spectacle, such as the delightfully absurd accordion-rave lead single ‘Joyride’, and ‘Yippie-Ki-Yay’, an unholy fusion of Def Leppard and Florida Georgia Line. .... ‘Love Forever’, ‘The One’, ‘Too Hard’ are relatively straightforward love songs that don’t reach the vulnerability of albums past. It all builds to the closing track ‘Cathedral’, a spiritual sequel to ‘Praying’.
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